Tottenham Hotspur (1) 4 - 5 (1) Arsenal
White Hart Lane, Saturday 13th November 2004
FA Premiership
Arsenal:
Lehmann
Lauren Toure Cygan Cole
Ljungberg Vieira Cesc Reyes (Pires)
Henry Bergkamp (van Persie)
Strictly speaking, Arsenal had returned to winning ways with the
amazing home win over Everton in the League Cup. But that wasn't this Arsenal, wasn't the first team that had possibly been looking a little shell-shocked since the loss at Old Trafford. That's not to say they'd done badly since then - getting draws rather than losses when you're under par is hardly a bad sign (not if you accept that being under par is something that has to happen sometimes). But the swagger had gone. What better to bring the fun back into Arsenal's play that a trip up the road to Tottenham?
It looked the usual tight affair for the first half hour or so. But on 37 minutes Naybet was allowed (thanks to a slip by Toure) to get to a Carrick free kick to put the home side ahead. Lehmann had to save well soon after when a free kick was
got a deflection off Vieira, and then as halftime approached Cygan placed a header over the bar.
But with the last kick of the first half Arsenal stole a psychological advantage with the equaliser. Lauren's long diagonal ball into the box was perfect for Henry. His first touch near the spot left his defender stranded, and although he seemed to be falling over Henry's second touch poked the ball under the keeper.
The second half was something else. Lauren put us ahead 10 minutes in with a cool penalty after Ljungberg had been brought down by a defender he'd just tricked his way past. Then Vieira stole the ball on the half way line and galloped forward to make it 3-1 on the hour.
Before we knew it Defoe had pulled one back with a superb shot, collecting the ball from a throw in he beat 2 red shirts before curling it into the top corner. then a few minutes later Freddie had restored the 2 goal cushion. This time Fabregas was the key man, winning possession and exhaanging passes with Henry, before feeding Freddie in the box.
Ledley King pulled it back again with a far post header from a free-kick before Pires made it 5-3 on 81 minutes after being set up by a cute reverse pass from Henry. Kanoute got them another lifeline with 3 minutes left but it was all too late (and anyway, it was Arsenal's turn to score next).
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